The Ringer NFL Show - Predicting the Week 18 NFL Headlines

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Sheil and The Ringer’s own Diante Lee get together to analyze the biggest matchups from the Week 18 slate to determine what story lines will have the NFL media buzzing on Monday morning. (00:00) Predicting the Week 18 headlines(1:25) Panthers-Bucs(6:49) Seahawks-49ers(15:19) Ravens-Steelers(27:38) The Ringer 107 The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Alysha TsujiProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Shield Capadia today. We are predicting headlines for three week 18 matchups, the three big ones, Bucks Panthers on Saturday afternoon, Seahawks 49ers on Saturday night, and Raven Steelers on Sunday night. My guest today is the Ringer's Deonté Lee. We will predict what we think is going to happen in those games and break down the matchups. All right.

Take a break. Come back with Deontay. The Ringer NFL show is presented by Fandul. Fan Duel's got it all. Same game parlay's quick bets for jumping in live and your way so you can build the bet that fits your play. Plus, don't miss out on the NFL playoffs all month long. Download the Fandual app or head to fandul.com slash ringer NFL to get started. 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.

gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, or visit RG-Helph.com. Call 1-88-7-8-8-7-7. Or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show with my friend DeAte Lee. We are predicting headlines as we do for the biggest week 18 matchups, DeAte. Let's start with the Panthers at the Bucks here. Now let me give you the scenarios real quick. So if the Panthers beat the bucks they're in, they're also in if the Falcons beat the Saints.

I can explain that in a minute. But yes, they can sort of back their way into a playoff spot. And for the Bucks to get in, they got to win this game and they need the Falcons to lose to the Saints. What is your headline in this NFC South that we've been kind of trying to avoid, you know, talking about? It's very lackluster. But here we are. Now is the time. What do you think happens in this game?

I think that the headline is, I had a schedule. Carolina beats Tampa Bay, seals their playoff, punches their playoff ticket. That's where I'm at with it. Okay. You know, I mean, you know this in the conversation that we've had over the last two years. I'm big on trend lines, right? Like, I always want to know, how have you been over the last month?

That's always what I'm looking at. And if you're just looking at Tampa Bay over the last month of the season, they've just cratered in so many different areas, right? It definitely looks like, and this was happening, I would say around the midseason market. as well. You can tell that the injuries up front on their offensive line. The in and out availability of their receivers is definitely knocked off their rhythm. I would say really what's central at this is Baker Mayfield is just not playing at the same level right now that he was playing

at earlier in the year. You're seeing more mistakes under pressure. You're seeing him create more pressure for himself. You're seeing more poorly time passes into these closing windows. And then on the other side of the ball, and I think that this has just been a story of Top Bowles' time as a head coach, you're just seeing a defense that it feels like more offenses just have figured out. Can he get on a heater and blitz you and create a lot of problems for your quarterback? Of course, right? But there's a feaster famine kind of nature to the way that Tampa Bay has been playing all season. Some of that is just kind of end up to the way that they play, the way that they build their roster.

And right now they're just on the losing end of that. And I think with the way that Carolina plays, not turning the ball over, trying to control possessions and minimize possessions, the success that they've had on fourth down, the success they've had will get in scoring drives when they get in the red zone. All of those are the margins that allow you to beat a team like Tampa Bay that can go for 40 points but just as easily give up 40, right? I think that because Carolina kind of lives on a more even plane, I would say, on a week-by-week basis, I think I just trust them more going into this game.

It's like Carolina against a really good team. You kind of don't trust them at all. I know they beat the Rams earlier this season, but I feel like most of the time there's a ceiling where it's like, you know, you saw it last week against Seattle. It's just like they're helpless. They have no chance against this team, even though the Seahawks weren't even really playing that well. But it gets the team like the Bucks, you're right.

They just haven't been a good team. They've lost seven of eight. You work around, you know, high school students. Would they call this a mid-off, Deonté? 100%. Okay. It's definitely a mid-off. All right.

This is a mid-off. Bucks are 20th in DVOA. I mean, that might even be generous, honestly. Panthers are 24th in DVOA. Like these are not, they're a little further away from even a mid-off. Here, sorry, listeners. I won't say that. I won't say that again.

That'll be the last time you'll hear it from me. But I think that's why when you look at this game, it's just so hard to predict because you don't trust either team. You wish, I like in these games when you can be like, well, at least I trust this unit, you know? Sometimes it's not a great, but you don't even have that here. You don't have that. You don't have that. You don't have that. You don't have that.

Any metric you want to look at, it's going to be middle of the pack or below average here. So yeah, I don't hate your pick there of a Panthers win. You know me. I like to root for chaos. And that in Week 18 chaos, I mean, that's one of my favorite. So here's what I got. Falcons win sends Panthers to the playoffs. So here's how this one is.

Here's my ideal scenario. Saturday, this game, Saturday afternoon, it's just bad. It's sloppy. Everyone's laughing. People are making jokes on social media. It's like, I can't believe one of these teams are going to be in the playoffs. Bucks end up winning the game. It's nothing where you're like, oh, they're back.

and they're dangerous. It's like a 23-20 game. 1917. Yeah, a lot of turnover, something like that. But then the Panthers aren't out of it. Because remember, this game's on Saturday.

So in this scenario, both teams go home. Sunday, they have to watch, they're forced to watch. The Falcons against the Saints and the Falcons are going to win that game against the Saints.

It's their destiny to just, you know, win these games that don't matter. and now it's like, oh, yeah, remember, Bijon Robinson? It's incredible. Yeah, well, why haven't they, like, supported this? Why are they in the position they're in? Why aren't they actually playing for a playoff spot?

So this is their destiny, a three-way tie. That's the reason why the Panthers would be in. So a two-way tie, Bucks win the tiebreaker. But a three-way tie, the Panthers actually win the tiebreaker. So they go home, they watch the Falcons beat the Saints. And now all of a sudden, in the most hilarious NFC, plot twist imaginable. The Panthers, even with losing their last game,

back their way into a playoff spot and host a playoff game on Wildcard weekend. That's my dream. Night game is like the opposite. These are two teams that have looked really good. Seahawks, 49ers, 49ers are underdogs as of this recording, one and a half point underdogs. At home here, we know the scenarios.

Winner gets the one seed, huge advantage. You get the buy. You get home playoff games throughout. If the Seahawks lose Deontay, they can't fall further than the five seed. So either they're the one seed or they're going to whoever wins the NFC South in the first round, in the first round of the playoffs there. If the 49ers lose, they could fall further. They could be the six seed and they could have to go to Carol.

If the five seed, it's Carolina or Tampa. If it's the six seed, they're going to Philadelphia or Chicago. So they have more scenarios to look at here. what is your headline for Seahawks 49ers, which should be a really fun game? God, I don't, this is just so fascinating. It's hard, this is hard, yeah. The way I think this game is going to play out

is maybe not reflective of how I feel about these two teams in general, but I think that my headline is unreal, San Francisco clinches, NFC's number one seed. Oh, going with the Niners. I think when you just watch the way the San Francisco's been playing offensively, we talked a little bit about it last week, but this might be Kyle Shanahan's best coaching, when you look at what he's drawing out of this offensive line,

what he's drawing out of this receiver's room, what he's got out of Brock Purdy now that it seems like his foot is healthy again and he's able to be mobile and extend and really drive the ball. I mean, it is machine-like right now. Now, have they played against the greatest of defenses every week? No, I would say that Sunday night was probably not reflective of what we're going to see this week against Seattle, right? The Bears offer very little resistance if they're not forcing turnovers and getting sacks.

But I will say the efficiency, right? they've been able to kind of toggle between, okay, Brock, we need you to get the ball out quickly within 2.4 seconds underneath. Go create yards after the catch with George Kittle and Richard McCaffrey. They've done that really well. And as a credit to Purdy now that he's healthy, he's been able to get back to the, okay,

I can really kind of hang in the pocket. I can extend. I can try to push the ball downfield to DeMarcus Robinson. When Ricky Pursall is there, I can push the ball into those intermediate areas to him as well and allow them to go make those plays that get us the chunk gains that we need. I don't think that this,

means that there's anything wrong with Seattle's defense, because if I was just judging every defensive unit, I would say that this is the one that has the least weaknesses of any in the league. But I do think that, like, Kyle Shanahan is just so good at being able to pluck away little by little and then find that chunk gain that they need. I think this will be one of those 24-21 type of games, but you're going to see another machine-like performance from San Francisco's offense.

We're on the same page here. I didn't know. I didn't think we would be. I thought you would go with sort of the defensive team, and I would be like, nope, I think the 49ers, but I've got Shanahan Stamps coach of the year case as 49ers secure one seat. Now, I don't know if he's going to win it or not.

I do think if they win. I kind of feel like he should. I think he's got a real chance at it. Yeah, like Ben Johnson, you know, Vrable. I get it. Right. Liam Cohen. Always have been great years.

Yeah. But you talk about your best edge rusher tearing his ACL and your best defensive player overall breaking his leg before he even got to the midseason. and you've been able to draw 13 wins out of this unit. Your star receiver basically has not been part of the team since last winter. And you still been able to be the top overall seed in your conference. Right.

Like it would just be, it would be an incredible achievement, especially with how competitive the rest of the NFC West has been. Yeah, I think you spelled it out well. And it's not like their defense has answered the call. It's their defense hasn't been very good. Their offense has kind of had no margin for error. I mean, you mentioned machine like earlier, three straight games, 90th percentile or better, EPA per drive. Like, I don't care who you're playing.

That type of just, all right, we have to be on it every single week. I mean, they throw a pick six on the first play last week. And then it's like they still had a 90th percentile game because the rest of the game they just scored on pretty much every single possession. So that is hard to achieve. Yeah, I like, it's tough. I just, I feel like they will find some answers if you look at, Shanahan versus McDonald the last couple years. He hasn't lit him up, but it's been like, I would give slight edge to Shannon.

Like he's produced above average offensive games, I think, in all three of those games. They haven't been a lead. It's not like he's got the answer or anything like that, but they haven't gotten completely shut down, which I feel like is the key against Seattle there. So this game's interesting for, you know, for so many reasons. But I feel like for Darnold, it's a can you flip the narrative game, you know? This is like a game you should be able to play well in. 49ers defense is bad.

As I just mentioned, they're 26th in EPA per drive. You were in the same spot last year, which I forgot until Austin Gale reminded me earlier this week on the show. I'm like, oh, yeah, this is the exact same spot Donald was in last year. So you've got that aspect of it. And then for Shanahan, it's like these are the spots where you can sort of earn your reputation. You know, it's not beating up on the Colts and the bears. You're going up against one of the top defensive minds in the NFL,

maybe the best defense in the NFL for Purdy, too, you know? those improv plays and doing the duggy against the bears. That's cute. But now the stakes are high. It's a little different now. It's the Seahawks and can you do it here? So I just feel like Shanahan Purdy, but probably Donald is number one, right,

on the kind of what's the narrative coming out of this game. Let me ask you this. Fun subplot here with the Rams, Deonté, because let's say the 49ers lose this game. Now, the Rams play on Sunday against the Cardinals. And Sean McVeigh said after the Monday night loss, We're playing our starters. I kind of think he was in his feelings a little bit,

and I don't know. I want to see what that looks like later in the week. But from the Rams perspective, if the 49ers lose, you know that if you win on Sunday, you're the 5C. And that means going to Carolina or Tampa versus you could sit your starters,

get the weak arrest. But if you lose and you're the Rams, now all of a sudden you're going to Chicago or Philadelphia. Now, if you're saying, hey, to get to the Super Bowl, you're going to have to beat good teams. I get that aspect of it. But man, there is to me a big difference.

And anything can happen. We know weird stuff happens in the playoffs. But there's a big difference between going to Carolina slash Tampa and going to Philadelphia slash Chicago. So if this scenario plays out where Niners lose Saturday and the Rams have to make that decision, what would you do or what do you think Sean McVeigh does on Sunday? If I'm Sean McVeigh,

I totally understand how he felt after that game. because you have to be frustrated, right? I think that they've been kind of white-knuckling, as every other team in the NFC West has, because they've all been angling for either the one seed or the five-seed to make sure that they're in the best position possible. And I think right now, coming off of what happened on Monday, the smart thing to do, in my opinion,

is give your guys a week, make sure that Matthew Stafford gets a week. You get your arm refreshed. Make sure Pooka Nakua gets a week for all the beating that he takes. You get a week where there's no stress on Devonte Adams' status at all. allow your offensive line to kind of get a week off. It's whatever, man. You honestly might be able to put your backups on the field against Arizona.

I was just thinking that Garapolo could actually beat the Cardinals as I was thinking about it more. You might be able to run for 270 yards against Cardinals's defense and be able to go win the game with three rushing touchdowns, right? So I think that it's not necessarily, it's not a do-or-die scenario in the sense that like, oh, we know that Chicago and Philadelphia for certain are the best teams in the NFC. Can you lose to them? Yes. but I don't think that you should feel so uncomfortable with having to travel to play either of those teams if you're L.A. I find them you take the week, get fresh, and then go try to win a Super Bowl, which I still think is very much within their range of outcomes right now.

You talked me into it. I think if you have Stafford and Puka Nakua healthy for the playoff run, take your shot. I'd much rather have that. I'd much rather that than play Tampa Bay in the first round. All of a sudden, you're risking it. And yeah, Stafford tweaks his back or Nekua. I don't can it can only play one way. I think we know that.

It's very entertaining, but he's not going to be like cautious about anything. And yeah, to your point, I think there's still going to be favorites with Garapolo in that game. So yeah, I think that's probably what the Rams do in that matchup. All right, let's take a break. We come back Sunday nighter Ravens Steelers. All right, we are back on the ringer NFL show. Ravens and Steelers, Steelers, three and a half point underdogs at home in this game. We don't know if Lamar Jackson's going to play.

I don't know if we're going to know that until, honestly, Sunday morning. It feels like one of those, but we'll see how the rest of the week goes here. What's your headline, Deontay, for this one? It's Jaws of Life, Derek Henry. I'll say in parentheses because we don't know a status yet. Lamar Jackson save Baltimore season. I think this is a Baltimore win. I think this is one of those John Harbaugh escapes after all the scrutiny over the last two.

weeks. I wasn't the first person to notice it, but it was very funny to me seeing John Harbaugh walked sidelines with the play sheet when they were playing the Packers. I was like, oh, okay, clearly something, it seems to be landing, right? Like, whatever these. Where are we? How many coaches are we at by week 18 are like, I'm going to be more involved? It feels like, you know, a quarter of the league this has happened to at this point. Hey, man, optics. Optics are everything at this point. Perception is reality at this point, especially if people are talking about your job security. But I do think, I think that they've landed upon enough over the last couple weeks. I think that they've learned, I would like to believe, that they have learned that their identity is just in getting

in the heavy personnel and mashing teams. All right. I've got a similar one. I don't feel confident at all about it. But I've got Ravens Claw all the way back to win division and host Wildcard game. So the winner of this game, obviously, is the four seed. They'll host Houston, Buffalo, the Chargers, the Jaguars, the losers out here. I think you nailed the analysis. I don't know what that Steelers offense. I have no confidence that they're going to look good with D.K. Metcalf without D.K. Metcalfe after what we watched last week at the same time, it's like, I don't trust the Ravens.

We've talked all season about the Ravens. There's no reason to trust them to blow a coverage. Yeah, exactly. It might not take a lot. Yeah, special teams. This could be a Tomlin. special. We're all of a sudden, Boswell's nailing 54-yarders and they're getting to play on special team. So this game is destined to be decided by like a weird call or a muffed pun. Oh, this is 100%

of red zone turnover. That gains in offense, 55 yards because Aaron Rogers took a deep shot, right? This is a face mask on 3rd and 21 that keeps a drive alive that ends up deciding the game. I'm with you 100% on that. But here's the thing. Yeah, I don't know that the game is that entry. I don't think either of these teams is making a playoff run in the ASE. But the most interesting aspect of this game is what happens to the team that loses. And I've been waiting to get your opinion on this because you got the Harbaugh stuff, you got the Tomlin stuff, you got Rogers. He only signed a one-year deal. Those things are all interesting. However, friend and former colleague in the athletic Mike Sandow had a piece this week. And here's

the headline. The Raven season is riding on week 18. Lamar Jackson's future could be too. I'm like, all right, you got me. I'm clicking into that every single time. Then I was looking around. Mike Floreo, pro football talk, has brought this up as well. The idea is that this relationship between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens is strained. The Baltimore Sun had an article about this.

And at the very least, there's some gossipy, rumory type whispers in league circles about the idea that the Ravens could move on from Lamar Jackson after this season. Sandow had a prominent agent telling him the biggest story of the offseason is going to be Lamar. This is going to be crazy. Again, there was that Baltimore Sun article. They're talking about Lamar's conditioning and his diet and sleeping in meetings and staying up late playing video games. Now, you're going, where is this? This is interesting to be coming out at this point in the season. So my question to you, is this something? Is this foreshadow and legit

where this could actually become a story in the off season? Or are you calling, no, this is nothing. I don't buy any of it. Where are you with some of these whispers that are coming out right now? I think that there is something to some of the reports that we're hearing.

It's just what do you actually make of it? Right? Like, this is not Kyler Murray to me where it's like, okay, we think this guy might have some maturity problems. He might lack. in some leadership qualities, and we can very clearly see that it is costing us games

because of how we're preparing throughout the week. I think this might be more of a, all right, man, it's kind of frustrating that we lose you to injuries every season. It always feels like everything's on the line every year, and we would like to maybe feel a little bit more secure for a team that is paying the money that we're paying to have a franchise quarterback. All that can be true.

I do still think that it's asinine for anybody to suggest. the Lamar Jackson be traded, right? I think that what's more likely is that you restructure his deal, which is what you do for every quarterback who has a cap hit over $65 million, right? He's at like 75. You restructure the deal, you add years, and then you go build the rest of the roster around him. What I will say that's been,

that is kind of frustrating some of the things that I roll my eyes about when it comes to Lamar is like, and I think that fans should remember this. His process is pretty insular, right? His mom is his agent. That means that you're not getting reports from, agents who are talking to each other at WME. You're not getting reports from agents who are talking to each other at Athletes First or CAA.

These are a lot of people who are outside of this guy's circle that are kind of pontificating, right? So you always kind of have to take all this stuff with the grain of salt because he's not, he's just by default of his mom representing him for most of his deals. He's going to be outside of these circles that have now kind of permeated in what we talk about in terms of national media coverage and where these leaks come from. And that's not to take anything away from Mike Sandals reporting. Mike Sando knows how much respect I have for him, right? That's a former colleague of both of ours at the athletic, right?

I have a lot of respect for his reporting, and I know that it's well vetted if he's willing to put it in an article and put his byline to it, right? But I do think that I would be very careful if I was a fan inferring anything more than this is just the chatter about Baltimore at this time. The same thing with the Mike Preston piece in the Baltimore son, right? Like, I'm not knocking where he got the reporting from. I'm not going to question where he got the reporting from.

I do think, though, it might be a little bit easier to poke holes and what's going on with Lamar because he does not necessarily have access to the same channels in terms of national media coverage to be able to go play the insider scoop. This is my view of it anonymously type of thing. Right. He could do that if you wanted to. You know, he could be Ted, but I don't. He did it once.

To me, he did it once and he caught help for it the year that he was dealing with that MCL injury and he put out the statement and it didn't really help quell any of the concerns and stories. and storylines that were going on about him. I think, what was that, the 2021 or 2022 season? Right? And then that ended up making it almost a bigger situation. And I think that since then, he has been very quiet about these matters,

which sometimes allows, because you're not working those back channels, that allows these stories to grow legs to the point where ESPN and us and all these other publications have to talk about it because that's the only reporting that we have to go off of at this time. Yeah, I love the context you gave there

because his mother is his agent. and you are reading in the reporting that, well, this has made it very hard for the team to kind of communicate with Lamar Jackson. Maybe on things that they just feel like, hey, it would be better of trying ways to help him because usually you have the agent as a buffer where the agent can have, not contentious, but he could go, agent can go at it with the GM and then relay the information that the player needs, whereas this is a different situation where that's not happening. But I also read these reports and it's almost, it almost feels like belly aching. to me. Like, I'm so sorry NFL team. You're going to have, okay, well, you're going to have to find a way to communicate to the player who's in the building every single day, who's been a part of your organization, who you've known since you've drafted. Like, if there are those things that you feel like, hey, he need, hey, Lamar, you got to, we got, we got to get, get you right with the nutrition,

with the diet, with the, and you're complaining that he doesn't have an agent so you can't have that conversation? Like, what is the money for then? If you're the GM, if you're the coach, if you're the other people. What does that say about your organization? If you can't have those conversations with him and then you're, and I'm not saying this is, like, I don't know where any of the stuff. Mike Sandos was from just another agent, the Mike Preston column. I don't know where that came from.

But it doesn't, to me, make the organization look good. And I'm sorry that, like, he chose not to have an agent. He's, you know, like, I could easily make the case that quarterback contracts aren't that hard. And I don't want to give that percentage to an agent. And I'm the MVP. So just pay me at the top of the market. and that's a smart move.

Now, I understand there are benefits to having an agent, but also, you know, just go further behind the curtain. Agents run a lot of the reporting and the coverage that you see on a national scale. And so when you see some of these things coming out, I'm like, yeah, of course, you know, there are certain people who are going to say things that it would benefit him so much to have an agent. But to me, it's just like, I don't really want to hear that complaining from the organization side that these are all issues because he doesn't have an agent. It's like, figure it out.

That's what the money's for. Do you know what $185 million guaranteed dollars does if you're an organization after you hand that to your quarterback? It gives you permission to hold him accountable if you have actual issues with how he's conducting himself in the building. So if this is true and everything that we are hearing is 100% true, you know what that means? People got to step up to the plate then. This is your franchise quarterback. You guys have not gotten past an AFC championship game. And in most of these playoff runs, you have had a very disappointing exit.

If it really bothers you the way that the reporting, And that Baltimore sunpiece sounds like, then yeah, you pull number eight into the, you pull number eight into your meeting room. And it's Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh and see, we shoddy. And you say, hey, buddy, it's time to wake up. You count for $75 million against our cap in 2026. I need a $75 million cap hit player to show up here every single day because that's what we feel like it's going to take to go compete for a Super Bowl.

And again, that's assuming giving everybody the utmost benefit of the doubt that everything that we've seen that was reported is causing the amount of rifts. that we're hearing that it is in the building. Otherwise, I don't feel bad for you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that your franchise quarterback might have a few things that you got to work through. Hey, man, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have to figure some stuff out for them to become a dynasty. Josh Allen had to go work on his game for Buffalo to become the machine that it is now.

I don't feel bad for any of these people involved. And that's Lamar as well. He has an end that he has to hold up right on his, right? He's got to be available. He does have to take care of his body if that is. becoming a problem in terms of him being durable all season. But outside of that, it's your job, organization. If this was bothering you this much, you're the one who handed him a five-year deal.

So go figure it out. Do something about it. That's kind of where I'm at with it. Yeah. I mean, you've won a lot of games. And this is a two-time MVP, figure it out. This is an NFL thing, you know, not to go further. 100%.

But it's just like they're always, even during the draft, oh, this guy hasn't, you know, taking snaps in a pro-style system. This guy hasn't played press coverage. this guy hasn't had to do real pass protection. Oh, I'm sorry. You're going to have to coach them. I'm so sorry they're not coming to you as finished products. It just drives me nuts sometimes.

And again, we don't know exactly where it's coming from. But when I hear those things, I'm like, okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, you're going to have to work a little bit to figure this out. You know, that's what, again, for the fourth time, that's what the money's for. So, all right, that was fun. I knew once we got into that, we were going to get to get to a fiery place. with what's going on in Baltimore. Man, again, this exact game might not have juice,

but the ramifications, like the 24, 48, 72 hours after this game on one side or the other, depending on who loses, oh, that's going to have a lot of jokes. These aren't the last times. We're going to be talking about Tomlin and Rogers and Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson. There's going to be something there depending on how this game goes. All right, thank you to Deontay Lee.

I will be right back with the Ringer 107. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by Fandul. No Friday episode this week because of the holiday, so check out the Ringer's social media channels. My official picks, they'll all be posted there. Maybe you notice, we're in first place all of a sudden, nine and one the last two weeks. I don't want to jinx it.

Still a long way to go, still under 500. Could go south at any moment, but in a good spot right now. So just some of the games we talked about, the bucks. I like a little bit, the nine-er. I like a little bit. Vikings are interesting to me. They're home against the Packers who are locked into that seven seed. So I don't have anything to play for. So maybe the Vikings come out, well-coached team against some backups and win that game big. Broncos are big home favorites against the Chargers team. That's not going to play Justin Herbert. That one was interesting

to me as well. So those are just some of the ones I'm looking at again, still finalizing my picks. So check the Ringer social media channels for the official picks for the Ringer 107. The Ringer 107 is of course brought to you by Fandul odds subject to change. All right, appreciate everyone listening. Happy New Year to you. We will be back Monday morning reacting to week 18, looking ahead to the playoff matchups in the wildcard round. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing Alicia Suji on social.

Additional production supervision by Connor and Evans and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Shil Kapadia. Talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helpshelp.com. Call 1-888-7-8-9-77- Or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, MA.org or call 800-32750-50 for 24-770.

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